Dessert

Salted Honey Cookies Recipe

ByRafael Mansero December 5, 2025December 5, 2025

Introduction

These Salted Honey Cookies offer a delightful balance of sweet honey and a touch of sea salt, creating a perfectly tender and flavorful treat. With warm cinnamon notes and a subtle salt finish, they’re ideal for any occasion.

A white baking tray filled with round, golden-brown cookies that have a cracked surface, sprinkled lightly with coarse salt on top. The cookies are arranged closely together, showing a soft and slightly chewy texture with a warmth that suggests they are freshly baked. The tray sits on a white marbled surface, with the cookies being the main focus, capturing their crumbly edges and smooth centers in natural light. Photo taken with an iphone --ar 4:5 --v 7

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup light brown sugar
¼ cup honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
Fleur de Sel, for sprinkling the tops of cookies

Instructions

Step 1: In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the room temperature butter, oil, light brown sugar, and honey. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla extract, stirring on low speed until well combined.
Step 2: Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix on low speed just until fully combined. Scrape the bowl again and gently fold in any remaining dry ingredients to ensure an even dough.
Step 3: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a large cookie scoop or spoon to portion out 3-tablespoon-sized rounds of dough onto the sheet. Cover and refrigerate the dough balls for about 1 ½ hours until firm.
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Place just under half of the chilled dough balls evenly spaced on a second parchment-lined baking sheet.
Step 5: Bake for approximately 10 minutes, until the edges are set and starting to brown. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of fleur de sel.
Step 6: Let the cookies cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Allow them to set up for best texture and flavor. Repeat baking with the remaining dough.

Tips & Variations

For a richer flavor, try substituting half the oil with melted coconut oil.
Chilling the dough is important to keep cookies from spreading too much during baking.
Add chopped nuts or dark chocolate chips for extra texture and taste.
If you don’t have fleur de sel, use flaky sea salt or kosher salt as a substitute.

Storage

Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. To refresh their softness, warm them in a low oven for a few minutes before serving. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month before baking.

How to Serve

A baking sheet filled with round, golden brown cookies that have slightly cracked tops. Each cookie is sprinkled with small grains of coarse salt, giving a textured look against the smooth, warm cookie surface. The cookies are scattered casually, some slightly touching each other, on the baking sheet. The baking sheet has a light worn look with some darker edge marks. The background is a white marbled texture. photo taken with an iphone --ar 4:5 --v 7

Serve this delicious recipe with your favorite sides.

FAQs

Can I use honey instead of sugar entirely in this recipe?

This recipe relies on both brown sugar and honey for texture and sweetness. Replacing all sugar with honey may affect the cookie structure and moisture, so it’s best to keep both as listed.

Why do I need to chill the dough before baking?

Chilling firms up the dough, which helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. It also allows flavors to develop and results in a better texture.